Organics collection service

Organics are collected every week. The maximum weight for an organics recycling cart and its contents is 200 pounds.

Your organics cart must be at your collection point, at the alley or curb line, by 6 a.m. on your collection day each week.

Customers who opt-in to participate are provided with an organics recycling cart, either small or medium. Properties with two or fewer dwelling units are provided with a small (32-gallon) organics recycling cart. Properties with more than two dwelling units are provided with a medium (64-gallon) organics recycling cart. You may request a larger or an additional organics recycling cart by calling Solid Waste & Recycling at 612-673-2917.

City crews deliver and maintain all carts. If your cart is damaged, call Solid Waste & Recycling at 612-673-2917 to request for your cart to be repaired.

Your collection day is assigned by the Solid Waste & Recycling Division. Routes are created so the Division operates in the most cost-effective way. Look up your collection day.

In the winter, remember to shovel a 3 foot wide path to your cart, including snow left by the plow. See Snow Shoveling for specific shoveling requirements.

How to prepare your Organics Recycling

Collect organics in your home in a method convenient for you. Visit our Home Setup Tips webpage for examples of how to collect organics in your home. Before your collection day, place bagged (paper grocery bag or certified compostable plastic bag) organics into your organics recycling cart. Place your organics recycling cart at your collection point before 6 a.m. on your regularly scheduled collection day. Visit our Acceptable Organics webpage to see what all can be collected for organics recycling.

Home container labels

Label containers in your home so guests know how to properly sort their waste. Stickers are available for Solid Waste & Recycling customers to label your interior recycling, organics recycling, and trash containers located throughout your house. To order stickers to help improve your home collection system, call Solid Waste & Recycling at 612-673-2917 or email your request including the number of each type of stickers you want to[email protected]. If you are not a Solid Waste & Recycling customer, you may request labels, guides, and more from Hennepin County at www.hennepin.us/recycleeverywhere.

Educational tag

Our crews cannot pick up your organics recycling if there is a problem with it. Unacceptable organics will be marked with an educational tag. If you find a tag, please read it over to understand what the issue with your organics was, correct the problem, and place your organics recycling cart out on your next collection day.

Some reasons why your organics might not be picked up include:

Your organics were not bagged.

Your organics were in a non-compostable bag. Compostable plastic bags must have the BPI logo on them to be accepted. Paper grocery bags are also accepted.

Collection time

Your organics recycling will be picked up at any time starting at 6 a.m. on your collection day. You may notice your organics are collected at about the same time every week. Please understand that changes in weather conditions, crew assignments and equipment problems can change your pickup to earlier or later in the day. Please make sure your organics cart is always out by 6 a.m. on your collection day.

Missed organics

If you do not find an educational tag and you believe your organics were missed, please wait until after 3:30 p.m. on the day of pickup before calling Solid Waste & Recycling at 612-673-2917. Sorry, but we will not return for your organics if your cart was not out on time.

Extra organics

Your weekly organics should fit in your organics recycling cart. You may place up to two pizza boxes next to the cart for collection each week. If you consistently have more organics than can fit in your cart, contact Solid Waste & Recycling to request a larger or an additional organics cart. Occasional extra organics may also be brought to one of the City's organics drop-offs.

Holiday schedule

When your collection day falls after a major holiday, collection will be one day later than normal. See the Holiday Schedule for more information.

If you have any additional questions, please call Solid Waste & Recycling at 612-673-2917 or by emailing [email protected].

Last updated Sep 3, 2019

QUICK LINKS

Accessibility: For reasonable accommodations or alternative formats, contact 311. People who are deaf or hard of hearing can use a relay service to call 311 at 612-673-3000. TTY users can call 612-673-2157 or 612-673-2626.